The Murder of Anna Yagi Shows Why U.S. Marines Must Leave Okinawa - Left Voice
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U.S. Marine Devin Jacob Ballard is suspected of robbing and killing a 39-year-old woman in Okinawa. This is another episode in a long history of the U.S. military presence in Okinawa fueling violence against Okinawa residents.

Calls for U.S. Marines to leave Okinawa have been reignited by the horrific murder of 39-year-old Anna Yagi who was found in a hotel dead from suffocation. LCpl. Devin Jacob Ballard, a 20-year-old Marine deployed in Okinawa, is suspected of the murder based on footage from the hotel security cameras. A police report also claims that he stole Yagi’s wallet and belongings.

Over the weekend 160 people protested in Naha, Okinawa’s capital, demanding the closure of U.S. bases on the island. Hundreds also gathered in Tokyo earlier this week. Okinawa hosts 70 percent of U.S. bases in Japan — importantly, Ryukyuan people Indigenous to Okinawa reject being governed by Japan — with U.S. military installations covering roughly 15 to 20 percent of Okinawa’s main island. These bases host 18,000 U.S. Marines whose presence has been a violent scourge on Okinawa’s community, particularly its women.

The United States has maintained its military presence since taking control of Okinawa in WWII. Following years of military occupation after the war, the United States returned control of the islands to Japan which had previously held a colonial occupation of Okinawa. But the United States has continued to wield its influence over the island. Since 1972 there have been 6,000 arrests of U.S. military personnel in Okinawa.

While U.S. troops harassing residents is a regular occurance, the murder of Anna Yagi brings back memories of the infamous 1995 incident in which three U.S. servicemembers in Okinawa raped a 12-year-old girl. This marked a high point of protests against the U.S. military presence.

Opposition has persisted. In 2019 Okinawa held a referendum in which an overwhelming 72 percent of voters opposed relocating a base to a new location on the island, instead wanting the base to simply close. Base construction has harmed Okinawa’s fragile ecosystems like the Ouro Bay which is home to 262 endangered species.

Despite the opposition from Okinawa residents, Japan’s government overruled the referendum and has repeatedly allowed the U.S. military to expand its presence on the island, creating the conditions for U.S. troops to act violently against Okinawa residents with total impunity. This is because Okinawa, located within the First Island Chain, is key to the United States’ military containment of China. In the name of containing China, Japan has allowed the United States carte blanche to use its territory, while Japan’s government also pursues its own massive rearmament ambitions.

As I previously wrote for CRP Asia, China should not be seen as a benevolent force in the Asia-Pacific. But the United States and Japan, the former imperialist hegemons of the region, have shown throughout history that they don’t have any interest in the wellbeing of Asia’s working class. As Okinawa shows, their own militarism in the region continues to harm specially oppressed sectors of the working class, such as the women and Indigenous people of Okinawa.

This article was first published on CRP Asia on October 8, 2026.

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